Riyadh – Mubasher: Remittances by expatriates in Saudi Arabia jumped by 18.59% on a year-on-year (YoY) basis during the first ten months of 2020.
Remittances hit SAR 123.41 billion ($32.91 billion) in the January-October period, compared to SAR 104.06 billion ($27.75 billion) in the year-ago period, according to data collected by Mubasher based on official figures.
The rise in remittances came despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on economic activity and global trade exchange and opposed to what the World Bank had previously expected that remittances would see a 20% decline in 2020 due to the global health crisis.
In October, remittances hit SAR 13.16 billion ($3.51 billion), an annual rise of 19.2%.
Saudis’ remittances fall 17.5%
Remittances paid by Saudi citizens stood at SAR 38.93 billion ($10.38 billion) in the January-October period of the year, a yearly drop of 17.48%.
In October of the year, remittances shrank by 18.3% to reach SAR 4.24 billion ($1.13 billion), compared with SAR 5.19 billion ($1.38 billion) in the year-ago month.